Promises are Meant to be Broken
by Evil-Ekat
Summary: 10 years after the arrest of Gideon, Mabel is dealing with the aftermath of a broken off engagement, while Dipper and his son are being followed by someone. Past promises come roaring back, and he entrusts him in the care of Mabel, only to find that they have both been spirited away. Now Mabel must deal with protecting her nephew from the isosceles monster, while Dipper searches.
1. Chapter 1

**And, the start of a new story begins. I'm really excited for this one, the idea had come to me a long time ago. There are no real character deaths in this story. A few things before we begin.**

**1. This is not in the same universe as "Shattered Star."**

**And now, just a little age confirmation.**

**Dipper: 25**

**Mabel: 25 (Well they're twins, of course they are the same age!)**

**Teddy: 5**

**I have three things yet to decide, I'd love your help on this.**

**1. Better story title.**

**2. WenDip. Y/N**

**If you have any other questions about ships or other things going on I the story, don't hesitate to leave a review, or send a PM.**

**And a gigantic thank you to KingofStickers for suggesting the name! I am eternally in your debt!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls. **

* * *

_**Coming as soon as I finish The Cipher Twins...**_

Mabel stretched and yawned, slowly untangling herself from her bed sheets. She debated going back to sleep as there was only a few dusty rays of sunlight beaming through the curtains. But she was unable to cover her head with the pillow as it fell off of the bed.

The young woman groaned and got up. She stiffly walked down the hall of her small apartment she shared with her fianceè to be Dan. Her husband to be often worked early in the morning, so it was no surprise he was already out of bed.

Mabel somewhat blindly walked to her spot at the kitchen table. She glanced down at her ring, and gave a petit smile. Only two days until the wedding. She and Dan had been dating for two whole years now, after they had met at an art gallery. They had drifted for a part for a little, and she began to wonder if he would ever propose. It had taken a while, but he had.

She looked down at the pile of mail laid out next to her spot. Bills, junk, more bills, and a letter from her doctor, already opened. She took out the paper, and quickly scanned through it.

"Ms. Pines, it has been concluded after several tests, that-" She paused her reading aloud, dropping the letter. Underneath it, was a small sticky note. And her fianceè's ring. With trembling hands, she read the little note.

_I can't. _

She felt her breath knocked out of her, reeling she stood up, only to nearly collapse. against the table. The world brightened out for a minute as the double blows set in. The was no baby, and there would never be one. And because of that, he had broken off their engagement.

There were no tears, they would come later. Everything felt numb, and she began to wonder in incomplete sentences. Had he only proposed because she was- Did he ever- What about the- Mabel shook her head as if to clear her mind, and jumped as the phone rang.

"Hello?" She asked, he voice cracking.

"Mabel!" The panicked voice of her twin brother Dipper said, "Would you be able to drive up and take care of Teddy?"

"Sure, up to-"

"Gravity Falls, yes." He interrupted. "Ok, great, bye!"

She felt slightly dejected at Dipper's hasty conversation, he didn't even seem to notice that she was upset. But the fresh air could do her good, and Gravity Falls was the place to go. Not only that, she adored Dipper's little son. He was more like her own son rather than a nephew. The though gave her a little pang as she remembered that she wasn't the only one going through tough times.

Her brother's wife had died giving birth to him, and he had never been the same since then. The five year old boy and his father were some what close, but Dipper was now more distant from everyone. She had never seen him like this since their last visit to Gravity Falls.

It had been 6 years since their great-uncle's death, and their last encounter with the most dangerous being of Gravity Falls.

The twins both decided that they had experienced enough of the supernatural weirdness to last them thousands of life times. They returned back to Piedmont and normal lives. Finishing post secondary schools, and taking up jobs.

She gave a shudder, thinking back to the fight with the demon. The journals had been destroyed, ending the fight with him. He left, hopefully for good.

* * *

Dipper gripped the car steering wheel with white knuckles. He slowed down as he drove past a bill board where police often hid before returning back to speeding. Forty miles above the speed limit. Surprisingly, his driving skills had taken after his great-uncle, and he was known as a lead foot driver. Breaks had no meaning to him, and neither did road safety laws, as he continued to navigated through the winding hills in the dark.

A torrent of water began to rain down on him. He flicked on the windshield wipers, and speed up more. They needed to get through the mountains before the roads were to slick to travel on. If they had to stop-

"Dad?" A little voice in the back asked.

"Yea?"

"Where are we going?"

"To visit some friends. Just go to sleep and we'll be there soon." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Actually, try not to fall asleep. Stay awake. Ok buddy?"

"Are we being followed dad?"

Dipper nearly slammed down on the breaks as his son asked the question.

"No, we're fine. We're just going to visit some friends. Your auntie Mabel is going to be there."

"I like her." He said, trying not to yawn.

"Don't fall asleep ok?" He reminded his son.

"Sure dad."

They were quiet for another few minutes, listening to the sound of the rain.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Why can't I fall asleep?"

"Because we're going to see friends." He replied as if that answered the question.

"Is Bill going to be there?"

Dipper felt the colour drain from his face. Despite the perilous road ahead of him, the young man turned to face his son. Deathly quiet, he whispered.

"Who did you say?"

Silently he begged to himself.

_"Dear upper forces! An imaginary friend, some rabid wild animal that he befriended, a stuffed toy. Please, please, please, not what I think it is."_

"You know, Bill. He told me that he's an old family friend, and that he had been looking for you and auntie Mabel for a long time."


	2. Chapter 2

**Did I say finish the "Cipher Twins?" No, no. I said "empty the recycle bins"... they were really heavy ok? Ha! Totally got you guhs! That story is finished and I just follow the strickt update schedule of "when ever I feel like it." This one will be alot more organized.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

Dipper ran through the woods along a familiar path . Rain continued to pour down on him as day began to break, his feet slipping in the mud that had formed underneath his feet. His hair was slicked down with a mixture of rain water and sweat, and there were leaves and twigs stuck in it. But he continued to run, panting heavily, insane laughter following closely behind. He had not run this far, nor quickly in many years.

The first tell tale signs he was heading in the right way began to show, as he stumbled over small pebbles and sharp rocks. Finally, just as he felt his lungs would be torn from his chest, he emerged from the woods and into a rocky bluff that surrounded him on all three sides. Just as the sunlight broke through the landscape, the demon made his way over to him.

Victoriously walking around the young man, he began to speak;

"Hah! You loose this time-" He stopped, noticing something was missing.

Dipper, leaning against the rock wall still catching his breath nodded. He gave an inhuman howl of anger and burst into white hot flames, an a shrill wind began to fan the blaze. The young man who was still recovering from the long chase, stood helpless as he strode up to him and knocked him onto the ground.

"We have a deal, and you still need to fulfill your end. You refuse to give me the journals,"

"I told you I destroyed them!" He flames grew hotter around him, and they began to singe his legs. The demon narrowed his eyes.

"Don't you lie to me." He snarled, dangerously soft.

"Really, I don't!" He said choking through the smoke.

Bill calmed down a little, letting the flames around him die down except for a single blue on that rested in his palm. He continued to strut around the boy, glaring down at him.

"That is neither here nor there. As I was saying, you have to hold up your end of the deal. And so, I want Mabel's son."

"Mabel's son?"

"Dear upper forces, don't you dare even start with me! You don't think I'd be able to tell? Related closely yes, but you would dare try and pass him off as your son? The bond between you is almost non-existent. You've never even called him your son!"

The demon gave a cruel laugh, watching as he tried to get to his feet. He made a move to hurl the ball of flames at him, but from his spot, he threw a small amount of salt at the demon.

"Salt? Really? It's not like as a demon I have the uncontrollable urge to count anything thrown at- _one, two, three."_

Dipper shakily got onto his feet, and began to limp his way back to the spot where he had left his car. The demon remained on the ground as he counted the individual grains of salt. He had not thought that the Bill would go so far with his threats. He had only expected him to follow him thinking Teddy was with him, and then turn back when he realized it was not so. And what he had said about him and Teddy. Was he really so distant as to his own son being mistaken for another's? He shivered and the Bill's voice echoed through the woods.

"You can't run _sixty, sixty one, sixty two_forever! Once I count all these _seventy eight, seventy nine, _I'll be back! I'll find you and Will, there's no where left to hide!"

* * *

Mabel pulled up onto the shack's spotty front lawn just as the sun began to rise. Six years and the building still looked the same. Weathered, rambling, and the "S" on the sign with the word "shack" still fallen off, evidently no one had bothered to fix it. After Stan's death, neither of the twins wanted to stay back in Gravity Falls. So they had left the shack to Soos, who they knew would never do anything to the old tourist trap. They had stayed in contact with him over the years, but they had never visited the falls again.

The chubby man-child was chasing around Teddy in the front yard. Unsuccessfully trying to catch him, both the boys stopped their game as they saw Mabel.

"Awesome, dude, Mabel." He said between breaths.

Mabel gave a smile;

"It's nice to see you again too Soos."

The handy man gave a nod, and collapsed on the ground. Mabel gave a playful scolding head shake at Teddy.

"Did you tire him out Teddy?"

The little boy grinned and shook his head "yes" before running off again.

"Wait! Where's my hug?" She called after him. He turned around and gave her a quick hug before sprinting off screaming;

"You can't catch me!"

She smiled at the little boy's antics. While he bore a resemblace to both the twins, with the same round features and brown eyes, he was almost one hundred percent Mabel in personality. Along with a normaly cheerful disposition, he seemed to contain boundless energy. Helping Soos off of the ground, she asked;

"Where's Dipper?"

Soos shrugged.

"I don't know dude. He said he was going back to get something, but that was over three hours ago."

Mabel frowned a little, wondering why her brother couldn't even wait to say goodbye to her. Absent-mindedly, she rubbed the hand where her engagement rings once was. Soos noticed that it was not there, and curiously asked the young woman;

"Dude, where's the ring?"

Mabel gave a sigh;

"Canceled."

He rested a hand on her back and said;

"Don't worry I'm here for you du- Theodore Pines don't you dare touch that!"

She sadly watched as the man-child ran off to stop Teddy from playing with a squirrel that appeared to be foaming at the mouth. She shook her head, smiling a little. Perhaps making friends with rabid animals was passed down in the family?

* * *

_"Duchess, I forbid you."_

_"I may be a duchess, but I'm also a woman!"_

Mabel sat, crying on the couch with a tub of ice cream ("borrowed" from Soos), much in a fashion similar to Stan. Although, she wasn't crying too much, and she was no where near as messy.

"It's just like my life!" She sobbed, "In a way."

So much had just happened in the past day, and now was a perfect opportunity for a good cry. Normally, Mabel was one to bottle up her emotions, grin and bear it. But this was too much. She had gone through all the stages of brake ups many times before, and she knew that her sadness would morph into anger without a venting of emotions.

"Auntie Mabel?" Teddyasked. Mabel gave a quick jump, and turned off the T.V.

"Yea Teddy?" She replied, trying to force a smile.

"Why are you crying?" He said, climbing onto her lap in the place of the ice cream.

"Crying? I'm not crying. I'm just... Sweating from my eyes!"

The boy tilted his head at her in an almost puppyish fashion. The young woman gave another sigh, knowing there was now way she could lie to him. But he was so much like her, how long could she shield him from the real world?

"Did you remember how I told you that you were going to have a little cousin?"

The boy nodded eagerly, while she allowed a few stray tears to run down her face.

"Well, there isn't going to be one. Ever. And your uncle-" She hesitated over the word, "Well, he's gone and not coming back."

The little boy's eyes widened.

"Is he gone where Daddy says my mom is?" He asked sadly.

"No. He just, move on."

"Ooooh." He said were silent for another minute.

But suddenly, Teddy got an idea.

"Hey! You could be my mom, and I could be your baby!"

The young woman gave a small chuckle at this, knowing Dipper probably wouldn't approve.

Teddy gave a nod of understanding.

"Well I guess you're my son then! But what about your dad?"

A frown crossed his features, reminding her of a younger Dipper.

"Dad's always busy."

The sentence from the little boy just about broke her heart into a million pieces. Mabel pulled her nephew closer to herself.

"I know he always seems busy, but he cares about you kiddo."

Instantly, he brightened and returned her tight hug. Mabel cheered a little, glad she could at least make one person happy.

"Yea, I guess so. But I think I like Bill more."

Teddy crawled off of her lap, the little boy then ran out of the room. Mabel jumped up shocked, and chased after the boy.

"Try and catch me!" His voice echoed.

_"I already have, I already have."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls. **

* * *

Teddy played outside by himself yet again. Mabel had made a point of always keeping the little boy in her sights, but without realizing it, she had fallen asleep in the shade of the trees. After yesterday, and a full ten hours of driving, she was tired. Not to mention the added stress of, "the news" as she was calling it. So one could not blame her for falling asleep.

Teddy as usual, was running around. This time with a grappling hook and a blanket around his shoulders as a cape, only tripping over the blanket every now and then. The little boy decided he needed a better view of "Gotham" so he scaled a tall birch tree, snagging several branches in his hair on the way. He looked down from his spot, and realized that he was terrified of heights. Teddy steeled himself, nonsense! He was the world's best superhero, he wasn't afraid of being super high up! He looked back at the ground again, ok perhaps he was a little scared.

From at the top of the tree, he had a magnificent view of the property. He was almost higher than the shack, and he could see the grass that was growing on the roof in places. Below him, the yard looked pretty much the same. He could see Mabel sitting under another tree, and Soos inside the gift shop, selling things to the tourists A flash of red caught the little boy's eye. Was that a gnome?

He watched as several of them walked up to Mabel and curiously poked her with a twig. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but the young woman jumped up, started and said;

"Jeff?"

The only gnome who had red-brown hair nodded. Mabel gave a sigh of disgust;

"For the last time, I'm not going to marry you!"

"I wasn't going to ask that." He said, calmly placing the ring back in his pocket.

"So what is it you want exactly? Planning on marrying Soos instead?" She asked sarcastically.

"Shmebulock!" Shmebulock interrupted.

"Yes, we know what your name is Shmebulock! I've only forgotten it like six hundred and eighteen times!" Jeff snapped.

"Shmebulock." The gray-haired gnome said sadly.

"Never mind that! As I was saying we want several million things, but one in particular. "

"Revenge? " She asked.

"Exactly! Wait, no. I mean yes! Errr, well not right now... Ummm. Argh you made me forget my lines!"

Mabel watched amused as he pulled out a few cue cards from his beard and shuffled through them.

"Let's see. Introduction, screaming in horror, proposal... Here we are! Pick up to the line "So what is it you want?"

Half amused, half annoyed at the antics of the gnomes she repeated her lines.

"So what is you want?"

"Several million things, but one in particular. Your son."

"My son?" She asked confused.

"Hey, not our decision, if it were up to us we'd already be at the altar."

"My son?" She echoed again.

"Don't play that card with us, your brother tried the same thing just a while ago. We know he's not your nephew!"

"But he isn't!"

"He looks exactly like you, and we heard him call you mom."

"Dipper and I are twins! He looks like both of us! And he just misses his mother, and I," She swallowed painfully, "Don't have any children."

"Oh. That makes more sense. But I highly doubt that's the truth. So where is he?" He inquired, pointing a small twig at her.

Mabel felt the colour drain from her face. Where was he? She had fallen asleep! So much for watching over him! Suddenly, something caught her eye. Was that Teddy standing on the top of a tree, with her grappling hook? It was! She did not change her facial expression, but gave an inner sigh of relief.

"Ummm, he went into town with Soos?"

Surprisingly, they fell for it and began to scamper off.

"To the streets!" Jeff commanded.

Mabel watched them, and shook her head. Was something targeting Will?

* * *

Wincing a little, Dipper continued to limp through the forest. While he was not hurt too badly, the young man was shaken by both the demon's temper and words. The spiteful comments continued to stalk him despite the fact he had long out walked the demon by a few miles.

_"He's barely your son at all..."_

Was it true? No, of course not. As he travelled through the woods, he vaguely wondered how he was able to run for this long. True he had jumped a few cliffs (thank to the training with the Manotaurs) and cut through the river deep with in the woods, but it was past noon and he had been walking for over eight hours now.

He was not lost, right? He felt dispare begin to rise in him. Impossible, his sense of direction had always been good. Mabel said he had a built in magnetic north, along with a few dumb jokes about following the north star on and in his head.

His heart sank even more at the thought. He had never gotten the chance to warn his sister. What had he done? Perhaps he really was that distant from people as the demon had said. Not only that, he had gone making deals concerning her without even her own consent. Keeping these things a secret all these years was slowly backfiring on him. And now Bill thought that Teddy was her own son, not her nephew. Who knew what sort of disaster that would lead to. He had lied and now his sister was in danger.

Dipper cried out in pain as he cut his leg on a sharp rock. Why did he have so many things to hide?

* * *

Mabel looked out the window in the kitchen, watching as her "son" played by himself in the dying sunlight. She felt a smile etch across her face. Teddy's imagination could rival even hers. She gave a laugh as he tripped over his always untied shoe laces, he really did take after her brother.

Something dark flitted at the corner of her vision, but when she turned, there was nothing there. The young woman shook her head, perhaps she was becoming a little paranoid after what he had said? Looking back at Teddy, she realized something was off. Where was his shadow? Suddenly, she recalled an entry in the journal.

_Mysterious beings of Gravity Falls, that bear a resemblance to the legend of the hide behind (p23) . Through a simple incantation, they can be summoned from their mirror-like world. But if separated from their original owner for too long, they fade away. Harmless to all but smaller children, whom they will attempt to steal away on the orders of someone. _

Mabel gasped, throwing down the towel she was using to dry dishes with, she ran outside.

"Teddy!"

Teddy still oblivious to the shadows encroaching in on him. As she stepped in to the sunlight, her shadow seemingly unattached itself from her, and glided across the ground with the others.

"Teddy!"

This time the little boy looked up from his make believe game, and he waved at his "mother." The young woman debated something for a moment. She did not want to scare him, nor introduce him to the supernatural of Gravity Falls.

"Hey Teddy, do you remember the game, shadow tag?"

The boy nodded eagerly, he loved anything to do with running around. All of the shadows looked at each other, confused, halting their advances.

"You want to play?"

Before she could even say "yes", he had already set off like a rocket to the shade of the forest. Where the shadows could not go. Mabel watched as they tried to follow, but they were pushed back as if by an invisible barrier. Teddy had now done a full lap around the property and crashed into his "mom."

Mabel picked him up, tossing him over her shoulder while he laughed and tried to twist out of her grasp. She carried him back to the house and ordered;

"Go wash up, dinner's almost ready."

He did as he was told, but Mabel remained outside, watching as the dark patches moved back to their owners. Teddy's tiny shadow tried to pass through the door, but another blocked it's way. It hung it's head dejectedly, in an almost cute fashion. Like those vampires she had deal with a few years ago, they had to be invited into the house.

"Go on in." She said to the petite gleefully went inside to find it's owner.

The young woman gave a sigh of relief and slouched against the wall, holding a hand over her heart. She wanted to tell herself it was just a little Gravity Falls weirdness, but one single fact stuck out. Those shadows had to be summoned, and anyone who knew how to do so was trouble. There was no way it could be who she thought it was. Right?

Finally, her own shadow returned to her. It nodded at her in a silent acknowledgement before resuming it's mirror-like stance. From her point of view, all of the dark silhouettes were back in their places. So she headed inside to finish up dinner. Meanwhile, from behind the trees, one solitary silhouette gave a quiet hiss of frustration before disappearing without a trace.


	4. Chapter 4

**Just a answer a question that may come up, no, he's not in Dorito mode right now. I just don't want to incorporate why right now. Visualize him how you want, we'll get the specifics later.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls. **

* * *

Mabel tossed and turned in her bed, attempting to become comfortable in the twisted sheets. But to no avail, she was unable to rest. Her mind kept wandering back to Teddy. She couldn't help but worry about her nephew. Two attempts to spirit him away left her jittery and paranoid. The young woman trued to fight of the maternal instinct to check on him, but she knew there would be no rest for her until she did.

Wincing a little as her ankle turned in an unusual angle while getting out of bed, she made her way to the stairs. The young woman leaped as she heard the front door close. She silently crept to the door and peered out the window. The moon bathed everything in a pale silvery light. But it could not reach every where, long shadows cast themselves along the forest.

Mabel gave a gasp, Teddy was outside on the porch, slowly walking as if hypnotized towards a silhouette on the edge of the woods. Mabel screamed and launched herself at the figure, hitting it in a flying tackle. Both went sprawling in the grass, and Mabel found herself being pinned back under someone's weight.

"You leave Teddy alone!" She hissed.

The figure gave a laugh, and she attributed it was a male.

"No. Your brother and I made a deal, and I intend to follow through on his behalf."

She gasped again.

"Yes, it's me. Quite the observant one aren't you? You knew that pay day was coming sooner or later."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She replied, trying to push him away.

"Shame." He remarked sarcastically, "You think your own twin would explain a little what's going on. "

He stood up and roughly pulled her to her feet. Just then, Dipper crashed through the trees. And momentarily forgetting his bad leg attempted to run at him.

"Mabel!"

"And we have a late comer to the party." The demon said dryly.

With a flick of the wrist, Dipper was frozen in place, his arms and legs stuck helplessly at his sides. He tried to struggle against the bonds, but he was immobilized. Instead he sent a slur of choice words at him and called out;

"Mabel!"

"Dipper!"

She tried to run towards her brother and Will, but a vice-like grip snaked around her waist drawing her closer to his chest.

"Let. Go of. Me!" The young woman snarled, attempting to push away from him.

"Yea! Let go of her!" Dipper chimed in.

The demon smirked and let a ball of flames form in his palm, he brought it closer to the struggling girl's face.

"Now how about you let me go with what I came for? You wouldn't want to get _burned _would you? Ha, get it? Burned?"

Dipper continued to say a few heated things, but Mabel remained silent. The fire wasn't burning her at all despite the flames licking dangerously around her face, no heat radiated off them. He was bluffing, but Dipper didn't know that. He didn't want to hurt her right now, but why?

"Don't you dare hurt either of them!" The young man snapped.

"I won't. Just bring me the journals and-"

"How many times do I have to tell you I destroyed them?!"

"Hmmm that's too bad then. I won't hurt a hair on either of their heads, but I'd recommend to get searching. You only have three months!"

* * *

_Black..._

_Grey..._

_White..._

_Reds, oranges and yellows..._

_Green, blue..._

_Others..._

Slowly things formed around her and filled themselves In as if someone was quickly drawing the surroundings. Large, polished marble pillars and floors, no windows yet brightly lit, a desk and chair, but other than that, devoid of furniture.

"Auntie Mabel?" She heard a little voice ask.

Teddy was standing beside her, rubbing his eyes as if waking up from a deep sleep. She gave a cry and scooped up her nephew in a bone crushing hug.

"Teddy are you ok?"

"Yea just-" he yawned, "tired."

Mabel continued to hold the little boy, despite the fact that her arms were becoming tired. Only to nearly drop him as she saw who was now sitting at the desk.

She set him on the ground, and was going to stride up to the demon and give him a piece of her mind when he froze her in place, letting her hover a few feet off the ground. Rather than launch into the expected dramatic and evil speech, he merely stared at her as if thinking something over.

She glared back with a venomous look, making sure the reinforce her mental shields as to not stream everything going on in her mind directly to him. He frowned a little, annoyed at the fact he could not see what was going on in her thoughts, but held his gaze.

_"Impressive, but there's no way she can hold this up much longer." _He thought to himself.

Reading the thoughts of another was fairly easy, it was just the simple trick of guessing what they were thinking and feeling at the current time. But the barriers that she had put over her thoughts made it difficult. To find the metaphorical door that would let him in, he tried to wear down her conscience. Ah ha, there it was!

_"Girl you got me actin' so cray-cray. Cray-cray! So tell me you-"_

Startled, he pulled out of her thoughts. Several Times? At a time like this? Ha, time. He would have to remember that one. Actually, it was quite clever (both the pun, and her idea) She had taken note on the fact that he hated synthesized music, and used it against him. As much as he wanted to cover his ears at the horrid noise, he continued to hold her stare. If he couldn't see her thoughts, he may as well win the unofficial staring contest.

_"So tell me you want me ma' ba-by!"_

His eye began to twitch, it hurt. So much!

_"We're not threatening girl!"_

With a final menacing look in her direction, he gave up and said instead;

"Before you burst out screaming, would you like me to fill you in on what is going on?"

"Yes please." She answered curtly.

He raised an eyebrow.

"No need to be _completely _hostile. You know as a demon I'm unable to lie."

It was her turn to look at him skeptically.

"I also know as a demon, you have a way with words. Which is the polite way of saying that you twist and turn every last syllable until you've changed black to white."

"Aww, I'm flattered." He said pretending to blush in a girly fashion.

She tried to cross here arms, but she was still frozen in place. Suddenly, she felt very uncomfortable being detained like this under his watchful stare. He seemed to notice this and flashed her a smirk at only made the feeling stronger.

"So the explanation?" She asked a little more meekly.

"Ah yes, the explanation to all if this." He began, standing up and clasping his hands behind his back. Slowly, he began to walk up to her and the now sleeping Teddy. This did not go unnoticed by Mabel, who snarled;

"Don't you dare touch him!"

He gave an annoyed roll of his eyes and just to prove a point, he ruffled the little boy's brown-blond hair. Teddy's eyes fluttered open a little, he gave a small yawn and said;

"Do I have to wake up right now?"

Much to her surprise, he gave a seemingly genuine smile down at the boy. Hiding no guile or white lies, dare she say that the sincere look was almost handsome?

"No, it's ok kiddo. You can go back to sleep if you want to." He told her nephew softly.

When be turned back to her, his usual snarky expression, always half up from a smirk faced her. Scratch that, anyone who could manipulate their facial expressions so easily could not be trusted, thus canceling out the handsomeness. Not that the demon was ever trust worthy in the first place.

He waited until he was sure Mabel's "son" was asleep before continuing his speech.

"So, here we we are, back to explaining. I'm sure you're wondering several things. Perhaps what I want with your son?"

"Why does everyone keep saying he's my son?!" She asked exasperated.

The response she received was the last she was expecting.

"Oh please, there is no way you can possibly continue to play this card! Your brother's already tried it Shooting Star."

"What happened to being all knowing? He's my nephew!"

It was then she realized who's authority she was challenging. It was Bill's turn to snarl angrily;

"You're in no position to be making waves Shooting Star." He flicked some of her hair and leaned closer to her."Or have you forgotten already?"

What in God's name had Dipper gotten her into?


	5. Chapter 5

**You'll notice I'm making out Dipper a little as a jerk. Bear (did some body say, bear?) with me people, it's not his fault. Being 45% his already antisocial nature and hereditary from Grunkle Stan, 60% past events that have left him bitter, and 618% a crazy demon who has been calling on debts for a while now. Not to mention an author who makes her percentages out of 723%.**

**Disclaimer I don't own Gravity Falls.**

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Dipper walked through the town, dazed. Had this really all just happened? The blood caked on his leg and disheveled hair sure seemed to say so. Absent-mindedly, he pulled 3 out of his vest, rubbing a thumb over the gold six-fingered hand.

Now he had to choose between his sister and son, and the journals. The choice should have been obvious, but it wasn't. He found himself limping into Lazy Susan's diner. Nothing had changed in the small town. Time seemed to have no meaning to Gravity Falls, where next to every thing stayed at a stand-still. The roads still needed paving, the paint was chipping off buildings, and half the streetlights either didn't work, or were on all the time.

The diner still smelled of coffee, onions, and the disastrous combination of a coffee omelet, the tables were the same too. Rickety, scratched, and in bad need of replacement. The only thing that had seemed to have changed was the pie trolley, that was currently spinning rather than frozen, and the beaver problem.

Sitting down at a vacant spot by the window, he stared off into space.

_"When it came down to them, I picked the journals! How could I?! Maybe he was right..." _The young man thought to himself, _"But if he were to get all the journals, something worse would happen, more people would end up like me."_

It was a feeble excuse and he knew it. Holding onto 3 for so long had caused him to become detached from everything but the book. It was almost as if it was able to influence his thoughts, telling him what to do, making him think he was reliant on it...

Shaking his head, Dipper knew it was not true. After Grunkle Stan died, he had hidden 1 and 2 far away with the intention of never letting them be found again, not even by himself. He had told Mabel they were gone for good, but that was a lie too. But returning back to Gravity Falls seemed to have them call;

_"Dipper, come and find us, find us Dipper, we miss 3..."_

_"Dipper, Dipper, Dipper-"_

"I said, Dipper! Can you even hear me? What do you want to order?" A voice asked, snapping him out of his reverie.

He looked at the waitress, a familiar smile and red hair greeted him.

"Wendy?" He asked.

The woman beamed and replied;

"Yup, it's me!"

"You work here now?"

Internally, he chastised himself, how insensitive could a guy get? Wendy gave a sheepish grin.

"Ya well, after my dad kicked me out I started working here to pay the rent and tuition bills for the local college. As you can see," She tugged at her waiter's uniform, "I'm still paying them off."

Dipper stayed silent, unsure as what to say next. If his social skills were bad as a teen, they were even worse nkw. Luckily for him, she began to speak again.

"Man, you looks so different, if it wasn't for the vest and hat I wouldn't realize it was you! How's Mabel? What brings you back to Gravity Falls?"

Dipper winced a little at the last question. His last meeting with Wendy hadn't been all that pleasant, resulting in him brushing her off, and rejecting the feelings for him that had taken three years for her to develop.

"She's doing good." He lied, "And I finally decided it was time to come back and face the falls, settle some things."

"That's nice." She said some what distantly, "You still take your coffee the same?"

"Two creams, no sugar." They recited at the same time.

The woman nodded and went back to get the his order. Dipper put 3 out on the scuffed table.

_"Settle some things indeed."_

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Now are you finally going to let me finish what I've been trying to say?" Bill asked rhetorically, "Good."

He leaned back on his heels to the point where he was practically floating in the air.

"I know that biologically, is _not _your son. But he is as close in the sense of blood and family relationship. When your brother made the deal, he wasn't completely honest on his part. He neglected to say that you would never have any children, something I would not realize until much later. Of course, having never made a deal with out some twist or the other, I added a little fine print. Pine Tree has never once called him his own son, you on the other hand did so without hesitation. Thus, in a technically _your _son."

"Why would my brother even make a deal with _you_?" She asked.

He smiled at this.

"Long story short, he didn't have much of a say in the matter. Both of you keep insisting you destroyed them, so I told them there was only one other thing I'd want in return." He stopped talking to ruffle Will's hair again, "An heir."

"Why an heir?" She asked perplexed. Was he trying to make her brother out as the bad guy?

He gave a bitter grimace.

"You twins really have no idea what you did to me last time. No thanks to you, I've only got seven or so decades left. I'm still immortal in a sense, the only thing that's going to kill me is old age. But still, there's quite a large age difference between that and forever you know. To boot, I'm stuck like this too." He gestured to his now human body. "I'd like someone to take over my role, and perhaps get rid of you two if I don't succeed. And who better than their own flesh and blood?"

"What?!" She said, struggling against her bonds, "You're insane! There's no way I'd ever let you even try to corrupt him! You stay away from Teddy!"

He smirked, hoping she would say this. To prove his point yet again, he walked over to her and replied;

"Or what you'll-" He snapped his hand away from the boy and gave a howl of pain.

"Damnit! When did that hamster ball shield get here?!"

It was Mabel's turn to grin.

"Right after the no longer immortal speech."

"Never mind that." He said, strutting around in front of the two. "Back to your brother. Of course he knew that you would never agree to this, you'd value human life far above the journals. I never quite understood how the collective power of all three books never affected you in any way. So, he asked me to erase your memory of that day. This day also happened to be the same one that five years ago, you concluded that there would never be any children thus your forgot that too until recently."

She took this in, shocked. Her brother had chosen the journals over her and his son?

_"No." _She chided herself, _"That's what he wants you to think. He's trying to twist your loyalties around. He hasn't hurt you yet, so there's some other meaning behind what he's doing."_

He snapped his fingers and the bonds around her fell. She landed on her feet, but the ankle she had hurt a little before twisted farther. Mabel gave a small wince, but it didn't go unnoticed by the demon.

"Poor Shooting star, hurt your ankle there?"

He smirked and a before she could do anything, a swift kick knocked her off her feet and into a chair that had materialized behind her. He sat back down at the desk, and continued to stare at her.

"There's still no way I'll let you anywhere near Teddy." She snarled coldly.

"Too bad that's not up to you." He said calmly, tilting his head slightly.

"Auntie Mabel?" Will asked.

Both of them jumped a little, not expecting Will to be awake. Instantly, they both wiped the less than pleasant expressions off their faces and turned to face the little boy.

"Yea kiddo?" Mabel asked sweetly.

_"Amazing acting." _Bill thought to himself.

"When are you and Bill going to be done talking?"

She smoothed the hair sticking in front of his eyes and said;

"Soon. You want to sit with me?"

He nodded and climbed into her lap. Mabel shot a look at the demon over her nephew's shoulder. It clearly read;

_"Over my dead boy shall I let you near him."_

He gave a sigh, annoyed at the young woman's over protectiveness. Tapping his fingers on the desk, he debated what his next move would be. A compromise, or something less pleasant for her? He debated hitting his head against a wall a few times.

Sure the extra leverage and motivation would be needed in order to get Pine Tree to fork over the journals, but he completely ignored the whole fact he would now have a snarling and protective mother bear of a Shooting Star.

_"A compromise it was."_


	6. Chapter

**I know, I know, I'm horrible. Please don't remind me. A new story idea came, and I am tied between saving this one, or "Reality" for later. There's a poll open on my profile for which you want to see, please vote! The poll will be closed on Sunday, so please, please vote! The decision in tearing me apart!**

**Summary: Set eight years after "Gideon Rises." After waking up from a coma, Mabel finds that her most recent memories are gone, and the life she had "lived" in Gravity Falls is different from the one today. It doesn't help that the demon who she was sure had evil tendencies announces that they were engaged, while her brother denies that it's so. Surely, she could trust her own twin and she sides with him. But it seems things are different than she remembers about him too. More distant and secret than she remembered, and the kicker of working along with Gideon, the young woman decides that something is most certainly wrong. Unable to pick a side, she decides to follow the advice of the journal and trust no one. Running after an argument with her brother, she finds herself crashing into said now ex-fiance.**

**Pairing: Yes, glorious, glorious Mabill.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls.**

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It was impossible, inconceivable, yet it happened all the same. They had lost. Who knew what fates had lay in their hands? Their families? The worlds? Or something larger all together? Well, it did not matter because they had lost. Failed in a blaze of flying colours and fire.

The demon had shown up from nowhere and struck without warning. Leaving their battle ground of the Mystery Shack basement, he had chased them through the forest, not resting for a second. Dipper had collapsed from exhaustion, and she struggled through the woods. Only to find she had come to an inevitable dead end. Mabel stood on the edge of a cliff that over looked the canyon Gravity Falls was situated in.

It was an amazing panorama, trees glinting gold and red in the fall colours. The sky was a clear blue and cloudless against steely-grey snow-capped mountain. The people in the town would be looking up at the skies, commenting on how beautiful the autumn day was. All completely oblivious to what was about to transpire.

The young woman held onto her twin brother in a near-death grip. Everything had unfolded in a startlingly familiar fashion. So close did it mimic their last stand with Gideon over seven years ago, she couldn't help but feel that same deep-rooted terror. But this time, there was no last minute heroics, there was no small fluke of chance, and there was no luck smiling down on them.

Nothing was there to save the twins as they took their last ever stand against the dream-demon.

"It's been fun kiddies, but play time's over and I have a few other things to take care of."

He floated over to the girl and raised his arms. And eerie blue glow surrounded her and it forced her apart from her bloodied and unconscious brother. The boy rolled dangerously close to the ledge. Mabel screamed, trying to reach him, but her attention was forced away from Dipper and into the demon's frigid dark one. Another wave of fear washed over her as he began to speak in a dangerously soft tone.

"Even when in mortal peril, you're still more worried about what will happen to the dead body of your brother dearest than what I'm going to do to you."

Knowing what he wanted to hear her say, she quickly stuttered;

"W-what are you g-going to d-do?"

The demon batted a hand and said impossibly nonchalantly;

"Oh, I'm just going to kill you."

The hold on her released. Before her feet could even touch the ground, his scrawny black arms caught her around the throat. She was aware of a strange buzzing sensation spreading though his hands before the demon quickly jerked his thumbs, twisting her neck. But death did not come quickly. He let go of her now bruised and twisted neck. She promptly fell to the ground and her knees buckled, sending her sprawling onto her back.

Everything darkened a moment before becoming harshly bright again. She gasped for air, feeling a leaden weight spread through her lungs. As the life slowly ebbed away from her, she was aware of a deeper pain setting in on her neck and head. Again things became dark and in distinguished.

"Pain or strangulation? I wonder which you'll succumb to first to first? Hah! It doesn't matter because your suffering has just begun. Either way I'll be seeing you in Hell!"

The last thing she heard was him cackling as he repeated the line, please with what he had said.

_"I'll see you in hell Shooting Star..."_

_"See you..."_

_"Hell..."_

_"Hell..."_

_"Hell..."_

_"Shooting Star..."_

_"Shooting Star..."_

_"Shooting Star..."_

* * *

"Shooting Star! Quick! Nurse! She's waking up!"

Mabel blinked, confused. She heard stirring and voices around her, ones that were unfamiliar to her. She felt a sharp prick in her arm, and her vision became more clear. Bland silvers and grey that attempted to look cheery clearly stated that she was in a hospital, there were stacks of cards on a table next to her, and a window to her right showed a beautiful view of a brick wall.

Two figures stood over her. The first one, she recognized right away as her doctor, but the other one seemed to be a stranger.

He was clearly handsome, with sharp features and dirty blond hair that partially covered soft grey-blue eyes, it reminded her of someone, but who? Something about the expression he wore all seemed familiar. The sense of dread she had felt before filed the young woman.

"What are you doing here?!" She shrieked.

The two men exchanged a look of worry and began a rapid exchange that she only caught snippets of.

"She doesn't-"

"-She might have-"

"Short term?"

"You see imagine thing when you're comatose-"

"-I know that"

"-Only for the past few months."

"What's going on? Where's my brother?! Why are you here Bill?!"

The doctor pulled out a pen, and held began to scrawl something down on a paper.

"Can you tell us what you remember? Basic things first?"

Mabel recited her name, her address, listed her living family members and favourites of everything. Everything was clear to her, except for a block of nothing the doctor said was over three months ago. Just then, Dipper rushed into the room, and was about to say something when he noticed who was standing next to the doctor.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her." The young man said quietly.

Sensing the tension that had set in , the doctor backed out of the room with a hasty;

"'I'll just leave you guys to talk for a while."

"Well then I didn't hear you." The demon replied with equal calmness.

"Is anyone going to fill me in on what's happening?" Mabel asked, crossing her arms over the thin hospital gown she was wearing.

Both men began to talk at once, pausing at the same time to say;

"I'll tell her. No, I'll tell her! Stop talking when I am! I said-"

"The. Ex-pla-na-tion." She stretched.

The both turned a little red, but Dipper beat him to the punch.

"Well, you've been out for three months now. We were beginning to loose hope for you Mabel."

"What happened to me?"

"_He _happened to you." Dipper snarled, pointing his chin at the demon.

Bill looked startled by the accusation and made a move to say something, but Mabel asked her brother again;

"Where's Stan?"

This quieted her twin.

"Well you know how he was like before you, you know."

She gasped.

"He's not-"

"No! He's fine, physically. But after you checked out, he lost it. There wasn't anything I could do." His voice broke.

"You had him committed for insanity?!" She yelled.

"Well blame _him _for that!" He indicated at the demon again.

The demon narrowed his eyes at this and took a shuddering breath, determined not to interrupt him.

Mabel ran a few fingers through her hair which was surprisingly clean and tangle free. Something snagged on her hair, and she withdrew her hand. On her ring finger, a beautiful gold ring resided, inlaid with a small pearl shaped like a rose.

But before she could study it farther, another flash of gold caught her attention. Resting on the same finger of the blond's hand was also a ring, clearly a companion piece to hers. The feeling of security she had felt as her brother came, vanished.

Both of them noticed the petrified look on her face as her eyes darted between her ring and the demon's. Bill calmly took her hand and gently pulled off the ring.

"I'm leaving." He said pocketing the ring. His gaze softened a little as he face the young woman. "I don't know what you though I did while you were out, but I'm upset you're afraid of me. I hope you start to feel better soon. The doctor says that your memory should be restored after a few days or so. You already have my number if you ever decide that-"

He trailed off at the end as he stalked out if the room, leaving the twins in an eerie silence. Just then, a nurse ushered Dipper out of the room, insisting that his sister needed to rest. They talked amiably for a little while, but the responses felt strange, as if they weren't hers. It was only a small case of amnesia, but it was weird. The elderly nurse distracted Mabel from her thoughts as she said;

"It must be overwhelming to wake up like this, and then your brother and fiancé vying for your attention. I wonder if that's why they don't get along? Maybe he's just being the protective brother. He is quite a looker you know, and what a sweetheart too!"

Mabel gaged on the juice the nurse insisted she should drink, and not because if the taste.

"Come on dearie, the juice is not that bad.!"

"Bill, is a sweetheart? " She asked skeptically.

"Yes indeed. You should have seen him. That young man visited you every day, he'd brush your hair, argue with the doctors treating her, and when he though I was not paying attention, talked to you. If only you could hear him, he was always going on about how he wondered when you were going to wake up and how everyone missed you. A real teddy bear."

Mabel took this all in with surprise. What sort of twisted reality had she landed herself in?


	7. Chapter 7 and poll results

**Results of poll at bottom!**

**Disclaimer I don't own Gravity Falls. **

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_A compromise it was..._

He leaned back on his chair, and laced his fingers together. With an annoyed sigh, he began;

"Look, your brother and I made a deal, no matter what you say, I'm not going to leave you alone. So how about a compromise instead? Before you say anything, a real compromise, no demon-y voodo and whatnot, with taboo if you break it. Just a plain, regular, not supernatural compromise."

Mabel looked at him curiously and said;

"Go on."

"Well, obviously neither of you can leave unless your brother decides he will hand over the journals in three months. In that time, I won't try to _corrupt _, as you so nicely put it, your son. _But_, only if I'm allowed to spend time with him without you hounding me."

She saw reason in the compromise, but looking back down at her now sleeping nephew, one thing nagged her.

"Why would _you _want to spend time with him?"

"Look," He began with a slight hiss. "You can either agree or have something less pleasant happen to you."

They stared each other down for another few seconds, both intent on discovering what the other was thinking. Mabel was doing a better job at keeping her cool, while he was clearly silently cursing her.

"I can not tell a lie."

"Cut to the chase George Washington. "

"Hey, I am on the one and negative twelve dollar bills you know." He said, pulling out the seemingly pointless negative twelve dollar bill.

"By chance did you ever find out why we have a negative twelve dollar bill?"

"According to Quieten Trembly-" He cleared his throat and mimicked; "I present to you America, the negative twelve dollar bill! Why you ask? Well why not?"

The young woman smiled at the spot-on imitation, but said;

"You never answered the question."

He shrugged.

"While I could separate you from him, or do something less than pleasant to you, I do have a moral compass. Teddy would be unhappy that he couldn't see you. I do actually like him you know, he's grown on me.

She still felt a little skeptical about this, but it seemed to be the truth. If he had been horrible to Teddy, the boy would have been scared of him.

"So the basic summary of this is, you be less of a jerk, and I'll be civil?"

"You really have a way of mincing your words, but yes." He stuck out his hand and began;

"It's a d-" The demon stopped what he was saying, looking sheepish. "Sorry, it's a habit."

"I'm sure it is." The young woman said rolling her eyes. "Have you ever actually made an honest deal before?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, there was that one time, but then he ended up... There was that other guy... Nah he wasn't happy in the end either..."

"I'm going to take that as a no."

He nodded. Mabel yawned and realized how tired she was. How long had they been talking for? She knew time went by differently in the mind. He seemed to guess what she was thinking and answered her questions respectively;

"Tired I'm guessing?"

The young woman yawned, confirming the question.

"And time moves slower here, it feels like weeks when it's only been a day. We've only been here for about one or two real hours. I suppose you'll want to catch up on your sleep?"

"Yes please."

"All right, this way."

He stood up from the desk, and Mabel followed, slightly tilting as she walked while trying to carry her nephew. He lead the pair down halls that all bore a resemblance. Slightly narrow, but with high marble ceilings, and only the occasional change in decor. A few doors, several paintings, all miscellaneous landscapes. For someone who was supposed to be insane, his mind was quite a contrast.

For the moment, the young woman forgot her precarious situation. She had been expecting a scary mess of things, perhaps some screaming, and a few antagonizing voices in his mind that would stalk any intruder to their host's thoughts. Memories and other things scattered all over the place, saturated in everything that surrounded them due to their inability to be contained. Anything but the tidy lay out. Perhaps everything was elsewhere in an effort to keep his thoughts private for the most part? On an impulse, she asked;

"How come _your_ mind gets to be in colour?"

"Actually, it's the matter of how come your great-uncle's was in black and white. Not only was he near colour-blind for most of his life-"

Mabel blushed a little guiltily as the time she blinded Stan for a week in an attempt to see a rainbow came to mind.

"Stanford saw the world both figuratively and literally in black and white. He lived in the past, as one could tell from all the things that inhabited his subconscience. Old actions and past choice haunted him, and eventually came back to get him. Perhaps it may even be an ironic twist on that old Tv show of his he always watched. It takes a combination of things to result in something like this, but Stanford had them all."

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**And the results for the poll are in! "Reality" is the next thing you guys wanted to see, so it's what you got. I did cut the chapter of this short because I did not want to leave you hanging over the time in which I would finish Shattered Star (33 chapters planed plus an epilogue) and Reality (10 planned very long chapters). Thank you to all of those who voted! See the results on my profile if you're interested! So keep your eyes tuned for Evil-Ekat's dark twist on life "Reality!"**

**-Evil-Ekat**


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